This invention relates to a method for storing nuclear waste and for safely transporting and depositing such waste into a storage facility and a system and device for accomplishing these objects. The invention greatly reduces the danger of contamination to humans, animals and plants and takes advantage of existing, but unused, storage facilities.
Nuclear waste is any sort of material which contains or has deposited on it, unstable nuclides of a relatively long half-life which emit alpha, beta or gamma radiation. This waste may be in the form of used nuclear reactor fuel rods; sludge produced during reprocessing or separating nuclear material; contaminated vials and syringes used in nuclear medicine or scientific research; or a variety of contaminated clothing, waste paper, or filtration media used in nuclear power plants.
Due to current heavy reliance on nuclear energy, nuclear medicine, and other nuclear application, substantial quantities of potentially dangerous nuclear wastes are being generated. These wastes require a safe method of disposal or storage to avoid contamination to life forms. Heretofore, a number of waste disposal methods for storing refuse from nuclear power plants, nuclear reprocessing facilities or nuclear medicine facilities have been proposed. Long-term methods which provide safe disposal over the life time of the dangerous wastes include methods such as the burial of waste as described in Bellere U.S. Pat. No. 3,236,053; burial in vaults as descibed in Backstrom U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,992, Chesson U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,254, or Hallerius et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,629; injection into geologic fractures as described in Reynolds et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,439, Stogner U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,100, Nelson U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,274, or Slagle et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,379,013; or plugging the waste into descending geologic formations as described in Kristerial U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,109. Short-term methods which provide a temporary storage site for low level wastes are currently in use and they include such methods as the burial of waste containing metal drums in earthen trenches.
Problems are inherent with all currently used or proposed methods for nuclear waste disposal. With short-term disposal methods, water attacks and deteriorates the buried metal drums. As a result, above-normal levels of radioactive isotopes are now found in water tables surrounding waste burial sites. No long-term disposal method is currently in use. However, of the prior art which has been cited, all of these proposed methods would be expensive and would require extensive development and construction before implementation.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a safe and expeditious method for disposal of nuclear wastes and to provide means by which this method can be practiced. Another object of this invention is to provide a system and method for economically storing nuclear wastes by utilizing pre-existing wells.
Further objects will be apparent from the description, drawings and claims.